Like many championships, today’s girls’ Mercer County Tournament championship in lacrosse might just come down to which team’s defense can slow down the other’s high-powered offense. At high noon, the MCT title will be on the line when top seed West Windsor-Plainsboro North takes on No. 3 seed Princeton who upended Notre Dame (19-9) in the semifinals to earn their spot in today’s title game at West Windsor-Plainsboro South’s field.

Both teams have won a MCT crown once with North winning the title in 2012, while the Tigers got their first MCT win in 2011 when they downed WW-PN in the championship game.

Each offense features players that can fill up the cage as North comes in scoring 15.6 goals per game — having scored 266 goals in 17 games — while the Tigers score at a 14.6 goals per game clip — with 234 goals in 16 games. Both haven’t slowed down in the MCT with North (15-1) scoring 58 goals to Princeton’s 54.

That means one of these two outstanding teams’ defenses has to step up in order to be earn this year’s championship. Neither team is unfamiliar with being in the final, but today it’ll mark the fourth consecutive year that the Knights have been in the championship game having won one of the past three.

“I have been very pleased with my defensive unit led by seniors Eva Boal (goalie), Morgan Magid, Giovanna Bonafede and Isha Singh and we’ve got outstanding play from Vic L’Insalata, Sarah Carlen as well as Kayla Carlen,” said North coach Beth Serughetti, whose defense is only giving up seven goals per game and only nine in three games in the MCT.

North also gets great defensive support from their outstanding midfield keyed by senior standout Olivia Harpel, Julia Tampellini, Carli Harpel and Morgan Hendry.

Princeton coach Kelsey O’Gorman’s got plenty to be proud of as well as her Tigers defense has been especially outstanding this season after dropping two of their first three games on the season to North and ND. Since then, the past 13 games Princeton has been unstoppable, running their record to 14-2, winning all 13 and allowing nine goals per game all tolled.

The Tigers are anchored in the back with senior and four-year starter Mira Shane, but she’s got plenty of support in front of her as well. Fellow senior Kristina DeMilt has been Shane’s best friend in the back, and along with her other defensive mates Taylor Lis, Steph Hauer, Oona Ryle, and Taylor Chiang, she always has Dana Smith, Elizabeth Jacobs and Emilia Lopez-Ona coming back to support the defense.

A year ago in the MCT semifinal North downed the Tigers 18-14 in a shootout. That might not happen today if one or both of the defenses clamp down on the other. But, even with great defense both teams have been able to put the ball in the back of the net all season long and another shootout’s possible, we’ll have to wait and until noon today to see.

“We’re lucky to see such a strong opponent like North again,” said Princeton coach O’Gorman. “It’ll be a great match up. Our defense has improved this season; our defenders are smart players and have each other’s back. They constantly communicate and adjust to one another. These defensive qualities and personnel have helped us become a unit and have given us the strength to succeed this season. They are capable of shutting down extremely strong offenses like Westfield.

“We’re just psyched to be in the finals once again and that’s been our theme all season: Who’s psyched? Our last appearance was at the 2012 MCT final hosted by WW-P South and I hope and believe that this team will fight hard in the game to make more fond memories at this site. We are ready.”

No doubt the Knights are anxious to get onto the field with the Tigers once again and it’ll be a battle of which teams wants to win its second ever MCT crown. In the team’s first meeting, a 12-7 win by North at home on March 26th was the season opener on a day with a 20-degree wind chill. Today the weather shouldn’t hamper play and this game could turn into a MCT classic; these two teams are just that good.